Sheriff’s gun plan shows what’s wrong

“Sheriff seeks sale of guns as surplus” read one of the front-page headlines for the Sept. 3 edition of The Daily News.

Eddie C. Quinn

To the editor:

“Sheriff seeks sale of guns as surplus” read one of the front-page headlines for the Sept. 3 edition of The Daily News.

Most of the time I agree with Sheriff Ed Brown; this is not one of those times. I must respectfully disagree with Sheriff Brown’s proposal to sell serviceable, publicly owned property worth between $40,950 and $46,300 based upon the article. Why now? And, do the prices cited in the article represent true values?

First and foremost, whether or not the models are still being manufactured is irrelevant, the weapons are still serviceable.

Second, Brown does not desire to give every law-abiding taxpayer equal-opportunity access to these publicly owned weapons. Brown wants to restrict sale to “active deputies, detention officers and retired county law enforcement officers.” Sounds like a “perk” to me.

Third, Brown has not addressed the issue of whether or not any or all of these weapons will need to be replaced at some point in the future.

Fourth, will the sheriff still want to give retiring deputies their service weapons as he has done in the past?

Brown said he did not want to discuss the issue because, “How I see it is, it’s like telling someone what they’re going to get for Christmas.”

I agree with him; this is a Christmas gift, because I suspect the weapons will be sold to this exclusive club at a substantial discount. To reduce the potential loss to taxpayers, if the weapons are to be sold, they should be made available to all qualified bidders at a public auction.

I am sick and tired of public officials, at all levels, obtaining so-called perks over and above their salary for performing their job. That we-are-better-than-other-members-of-the-public-and-deserve-special-treatment mentality is a major portion of what is wrong with this nation.

The pinnacle of this conceit begins at the White House and trickles down all the way to local government. With all due respect, I believe the sheriff needs to come up with a better, more taxpayer-friendly plan.